Heroes on Deck: World War II on Lake Michigan aired tonight

[intakexhaust]

Not sure how many PBS stations will be airing this program but it looks interesting.

Heroes on Deck World War II documentary about aircraft carrier pilots

Heroes On Deck: World War II On Lake Michigan | WTTW Chicago

A 60-minute documentary that premieres on Chicago public television this week explores the critical, but little-known role that Lake Michigan played as a training ground for thousands of fighter pilots during World War II.

"Heroes on Deck: World War II on Lake Michigan," chronicles the ingenious naval operation launched just off Chicago's shoreline that, through the conversion of two passenger steamers into makeshift aircraft carriers, trained some 15,000 aviators to conduct missions in the Pacific following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

In "Heroes," director John Davies and producers Harvey Moshman and Brian Kallies reprise Davies' 1988 short film "Top Guns of '43" with new declassified film and stills, digital recreations and underwater recovery footage of planes that crashed during wartime training exercises.

[t6dpilot]

That will be an excellent documentary about those vessels and the training. Naval aviators would depart Glenview Naval Air Station to do their carrier qual 15 miles off the shoreline. Many aircraft were lost due to pilot error and mechanical malfunction and lie at the bottom of Lake Michigan. In the early 90's, a recovery team developed a system to raise the aircraft without damage. They had all the locations of the downed aircraft and proceded to recover them. The Navy stepped in and put a stop to the recovery efforts saying they were not subject to international waters salvage rights. Whatever...

A&T Recoveries struck a deal to sell two Wildcats to fund the operation and they continued to help the Navy recover certain aircraft. They concentrated on the most significant ones and have them on display at various museums - Pensacola being one. There is an SBD Dauntless hanging in Midway Airport. This was one of those recoveries.

This was a huge "hush-hush" operation and the two Wildcats that were recovered were towed under water into a remote industrial harbor and put in storage. My father got a call from a friend asking him if he would like to partner in a Wildcat. He did not have much time to decide and basically got in his car within 24 hours to see the aircraft. A deal was struck and they decided to purchase and restore one of them. He made a video of the story, restoration, test flights, and finding the original pilot who crashed it. His video is being used in the documentary - not sure how much though.

I remember the night it was delivered. The whole hanger smelled like the bottom of a lake. The paint turned out to be in excellent condition and you could have almost just cleaned it and left it alone. The rebuilt wings would have stuck out like sore thumbs though. The air tank held 1940's air as did the tire, filled the other one and it held air. The battery was cleaned up and took a charge. It was very unique in that it was true Grumman F4F. It was a fixed wing (not folding) and was manufactured by Grumman before the production was outsourced to General Motors (FM2), which is the more common version. The story about the crash is that the pilot took off and the engine lost power during the take off run, the right wing struck something and ripped the outer 1/3 off, and it went into the lake. Even though the pilot was cleared of any blame, there was still some doubt as to whether he was telling the truth (i.e the friction lock wasn't set and the throttle creeped back). When the aircraft was recovered, the throttle was full which corroborates the pilots story. Even after so many years, he was relieved to hear that.

I could go on and on with stories about it. And I came "this" close to flying it...

[CurtEgerer]

Interesting story Scott! Going to have to make a point of watching this docu. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Interesting story Scott! Going to have to make a point of watching this docu. Thanks for the heads-up.

No kidding!

My wife's mothers second husband went to flight school in Glenview 1943. He bounced his instrument check twice and was sent to the fleet as an enlisted man - PT boats. He spent the remainder of the war in the South Pacific.

I shared some pictures years ago. He was quite a man, as were all in the doc.

[varmint]

USS Wolverine (IX-64) was built as the Great Lakes side-wheel steamer Seeandbee launched 9 November 1912 that was converted into a freshwater aircraft carrier of the United States Navy in 1942 for advanced training of naval aviators in carrier take-offs and landings.[6] The Navy decommissioned Wolverine in 1945 and sold her for scrap in 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wolverine_(IX-64)

[t6dpilot]

Curt buddy, it sure didn't take long for you to find me! Enjoy the documentary.

What made the recovery of those aircraft so unique was the extremely stable environment. Fresh water, stable temperature at 34 degrees, very little sunlight due to depth (200'), etc. The inside of the fuselage was in such good shape that they just cleaned it thoroughly - no restoration or repaint required. It was also very interesting to see what subassemblies corroded and what ones did not. I think that the Grumman built aircraft outsourced very little when this aircraft was built. Bureau No. 12260 was the aircraft. Here it is coming out of the lake.

[CurtEgerer]

Holy cow, you weren't kidding - amazing condition

Hmm, my local PBS channels don't have it listed tonight.

[t6dpilot]

Yeah and those pics don't do it justice. Once it was cleaned up before the restoration, you could see how good the condition was. There was some debate about leaving the paint. The fuselage panels were dead nuts straight. It was a record short 18 month restoration and for a complex aircraft, that is quick. The only thing that held it up was the wing rebuild. They did both since one was junk - safety first with two new wing spars.

[t6dpilot]

Post restoration being flown by the subsequent owner.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by varmint

USS Wolverine (IX-64) was built as the Great Lakes side-wheel steamer Seeandbee launched 9 November 1912 that was converted into a freshwater aircraft carrier of the United States Navy in 1942 for advanced training of naval aviators in carrier take-offs and landings.[6] The Navy decommissioned Wolverine in 1945 and sold her for scrap in 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wolverine_(IX-64)

Old vid movies of landings on the Wolverine while underway:

Miscellaneous Photo Index

[KNS]

So what is the status of all the other wrecks at the bottom of the lake? Does the Navy still consider them untouchable? From what I've heard the Navy still regards those aircraft as their property.

[t6dpilot]

Yes, the Navy still owns the aircraft and will not release them to be recovered and sold to collectors, restoration shops, or museums. Pretty damn ridiculous if you ask me. There are all sorts of aircraft down there with each location marked by lat/long. Wildcats, Buffalos, T6's, Dauntless', Helldivers, and probably others too. I am not sure if there are any Hellcat's down there. I don't think so since they came later in the war and were assigned to combat pilots. This training was an initial ramp up solution to get our Navy pilot's qualified and off to the Pacific Theater.

If any of you travel through Midway Airport in Chicago, take a little time to check out the display honoring those Naval Aviators that served and trained on the Sable and Wolverine. The Dauntless hanging from the ceiling is really impressive. I stand there thinking, "I would really like to fly that...."

[t6dpilot]

Pretty good documentary. They did not use any of our video - not that it matters actually. The salvage operation story is more real time versus back in the 90's. The one thing that shocked me was the extremely poor condition of the aircraft now. The infestation of Lake Michigan of the Zebra Mussel has really affected the aircraft relics. Look at the pic I posted of Bu No. 12260 that came out in the early 90's looks way better than what is coming out now. They are covered in Zebra Mussels. Really too bad.

I had forgotten that there are heavier iron Navy planes down there too, like the Corsair and Hellcat. And that they used the Sable and Wolverine all throughout the war. Forgot that too... The fellow that sponsored the Corsair recovery is a guy I know and have flown with. Nice guy. Owns two Mustangs, a Sea Fury, and a Grumman Goose, and I think a Grumman Duck at one point.